By The Associated Press 11.06.05The Mississippi agency that promotes President Bush’s faith-based initiative usually draws about 25 church groups to its sessions on tapping government funds for social service projects. This month, that number nearly doubled.

It is just one sign that, as congregations in the Gulf Coast and surrounding states begin to focus on long-term recovery from Hurricane Katrina, a closer relationship between churches and state and local governments is developing.

The trend fits neatly with Bush’s second-term goal of encouraging states and cities to get more involved with his faith-based initiative, since large sums of tax dollars go to states as block grants. The states “control where the money goes,” said Bryan Jackson of the Roundtable on Religion and Social Policy, a nonpartisan research group.

-----------

I doubt a great deal of people in general will question if this is good or not. I'm not against helping the less fortunate or disaster victims, but people really need to be aware that helping is often NOT the only goal of these groups, and bringing them closer to government is a bad idea.